That's the Wrong Question
"That was the wrong question."
"...I beg your pardon?"
"Actually, I was only joking. A funny thought just crossed my mind—our 'Summoning and Combat' professor's heart-fluttering love story…"
"Speak no such nonsense."
"Oh my."
"A love story?"
The rankers—the women among them especially—began to murmur. At that, Pharaoh, who had been standing quietly at the back of the hall, stirred up a sandstorm across the auditorium. Less a serious show of force than a petulant little gust.
"Hrk!"
"Aagh! Sand!"
"...How tiresome."
Even that alone came across as vaguely threatening to the students—rankers included. Not quite life-threatening, but enough that holding your ground took genuine effort.
Whoosh!
Even Yena, who had grown considerably of late, was staggering in the swirl—when someone pushed straight through the sandstorm sweeping out from the stage and climbed up. A pale gray cloud spilled from her body and met the sand head-on.
"I am Birang Brenis."
"Congratulations, Student Birang."
At my gesture, Rasty—the professor of Authorities and Powers, who had been standing idly beside me—brought over a single gleaming white trophy. It was quite lavishly wrought, and engraved beneath it were the words: Third Place, Entrance Examination.
"Congratulations. I couldn't get a proper look at you out there, so I'll have to verify your skills some other time."
"I will not disappoint."
"Student Birang recorded 31 minutes and 15 seconds under the condition of slaying every vampire."
"...Damn this world."
"Next up, second place—"
The runner-up, Beriad, came onto the stage somehow darker in bearing than before. Quiet as he had been from the very start, he simply walked up and accepted his award.
"Congratulations."
"Mm."
It was perhaps the most puzzling placement of all. He wasn't stronger than the rankers in the top ten, and though an unofficial ranker, he wasn't capable of simply overpowering everyone, either. Viewers and rankers alike shot him looks of doubt and wariness—yet the standings did not change.
"Why am I the one who…"
Granted, one person's rank had changed.
"But why haven't you shown up until now?"
"I had business."
"What kind of business?"
"...Nothing worth your concern."
Really? I stared straight at Beriad.
"......"
I stared harder.
And harder… and harder still—
Fwoosh!
The instant the shadow veiling his face began to lift, Beriad bolted from the stage. One more second and I'd have had him. A shame.
After that, once Leo—the top scorer of the entrance examination—had received her award as well, light flooded the previously dim auditorium. Only now did every face come through crisply on camera: rankers all, each of them holding a place of their own in DeoEn. And beyond them, the countless others who weren't present today but would soon be listening to my lectures.
I slowly took hold of the microphone and faced them.
"Now then, everyone."
"First of all, a heartfelt welcome to the twenty-eight students joining us today."
"What you will learn here at the academy is not some special ability. Nor is it a mystical skill that conjures something out of nothing."
Neither I—nor Rasty and Pharaoh, who wielded truly special and mysterious Authorities—could make something from nothing. All we could do was teach. How to put the abilities they already had to far more meaningful use.
"Some of you may find that disappointing. You might even decide it's all pointless—you already possess such formidable powers, after all."
"Then they should just leave."
"...Professor Rasty."
"What?"
I nudged Rasty back—she had cut in out of absolutely nowhere.
"But there is no power without a price."
Setting aside the two races born with unjust power, every living being was subject to that price. And even those two had to pay it without fail the moment they crossed their limits.
"If you ever gain something truly special, a price will follow without exception—and you will suffer the harm that comes with it."
A pure white spear began to materialize from my fingertips. When I gave the White Savior resting in my grip a light tap downward, the dozens of holy magic circles I had inscribed in advance began to spin. Glowing, they shot outward through the hall and formed gleaming white bracelets around every student's wrists.
"The bracelets I've just distributed exist to warn you of the danger of that price I mentioned. Should your bracelet ever change color, or begin to behave strangely, I strongly recommend you stop using whatever triggered it."
"And what if you're in a situation where you can't stop?!" Leo asked, both eyes glittering up at me.
If you can't stop, then…
It will hurt enough to make you wish you were dead. And you'd still do it, hundreds of times over.
"Then you bear it. No matter what price comes for you."
Sometimes there are things you must seize, even at the risk.
The entrance ceremony came to an end. Once it was over, each student's major was assigned through the student IDs handed out beforehand and the academy's system, and the students dispersed toward the lecture halls that matched their majors.
Twenty-eight or so students to a single lecture was no problem, but everyone's talents differed. For instance, Pharaoh's subject was 'Summoning and Combat'—and Dinosaurs Are Alive, the druid ranked twenty-fifth at entrance, would learn far more efficiently from Pharaoh than from me or Rasty. Conversely, Redberry, a fire mage, had almost nothing she could learn from Pharaoh at all.
Sorted this way by talent, traits, and class, certain subjects ended up massively oversubscribed.
"...This won't do."
One of the students in that 'oversubscribed' subject—Birang Brenis, ranked third at entrance—stood staring at the student ID she'd received after the ceremony, wrapped in thought.
First, she had succeeded in entering the academy under Duke Hwangyeolgong's orders. Lily had called the interference a mistake, but it had been unmistakably deliberate, nearly costing her the time limit, and in the end she had forced her way in with her own strength. It had been a dangerous gamble, but she had made it through unscathed.
Demerit points! Demerit points!
In her entire life, Birang Brenis had never once been reprimanded, let alone penalized. As a child at the Imperial Academy she had always been showered with praise and the awe of everyone around her, and afterward, trained under the Spirit God Duke, not once had her martial arts drawn criticism. If not for her orders, she would have marched off to argue her case on the spot!
"...Calm yourself."
Humiliating as it was, scores like that meant nothing. Her purpose here was solely to monitor Lily's movements. And for that, she absolutely had to attend Lily's class. But her assigned major was not the magic Lily taught—it was an entirely different subject. 'Summoning and Combat,' taught by a statue bearing the absurd name of Uncle Inom.
She couldn't admit it aloud at present, but she couldn't even claim the assignment had been made in error. Summoning and Combat really was the best fit for me. And yet she could not simply back down, either.
And so…
Knock, knock, knock.
"Come in."
Creeeeak…
The door to the dean's office opened. Inside the elegantly appointed room, Lily sat at her desk buried beneath mountains of paperwork, writing away.
She had heard that Lily had paused her broadcast for a while to give the students a break—so why was the transmission magic still running? What conceivable connection was there between transmission magic and this kind of drudgery?
"Is there some problem?"
"I saw the notice. My major is Summoning and Combat."
"I suppose that's where your aptitude lies. The professor is quite capable—he'll be a great help to you."
"Even if one's aptitude does not match, can a subject still become one's major?"
Lily froze. Her mana pen stopped mid-stroke, and blue eyes that would have glowed even at high noon turned to look at her properly.
"Majors are determined solely by talent and aptitude."
"There is no other way?"
"There is."
"Then that method—"
"Reincarnate, and your aptitude changes. I've never actually witnessed it myself, but I'm told it's a sure thing."
"......."
She had no intention of changing it. Lily smiled faintly.
"Class hasn't even begun, and you're already scheming to switch?"
"I know my own talents well. The subject I desire will never, ever be my major."
"And which professor is it that you want?"
"You, Professor Lily."
"My subject is magic, though?"
"That does not matter. My magic is modest, but I can still wield it."
"Hmm…"
Lily twirled the mana pen idly between her fingers. A turn or two later, she fell silent.
Impossible, then? But she could not retreat now, not like this. If she failed Duke Hwangyeolgong's orders, the Spirit God Duke would suffer for it as well…
"...Is it truly impossible?"
"Ordinarily, yes. Academy regulations are the highest law here. Not even professors can override them."
"...Ordinarily?"
She smiled. A more mischievous smile than before—and with it, she set the pen down entirely.
"Yes. Ordinarily, that is…"
Click.
"With the approval of a dean-level official, most problems can be resolved."
"...That amounts to saying it happens whenever it pleases you, my lady."
"It does."
Because everything in this place belonged to Lily.
"...Then what is it you want."
"That's the wrong question."
Not what I want—
"You should be asking why I came."